Band-cutter and feeder for threshing-machines.



A. l. PETERSON. BAND CUTTER AND FEEDER FOR THRESHING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 22. 1912.

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A. J. PETERSON. BAND CUTTER AND FEEDER FOR THRESHING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 22, 1912.

Patented July 20, 1915.

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A J- PETERSON. B AND CUTTER AND FEEDER FOR THRESHING MACHINES.1,146,900.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 22, I9I2.

Patented July 20, 1915.

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BAND CUTTER AND FEEDER FOR THRESHING MACHINES. APPLICATION FILED JULY22, 1912.

1,146,900. Patented July 20, 1915.

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COLUMBIA PLANDGRAPH co., WASHINGTON, u. c.

A. J. PETERSON.

BAND CUTTER AND FEEDER FOR THRESHING MACHINES.

APPLICATION HLED JULY 22. 1912.

1,146,900. Patented July 20, 1915.

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BAND CUTTER AND FEEDER FOR THRESHING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED JULV 22, l9l2. 1,146,900,

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ANDREW J. PETERSON, OF ISANTI, MINNESOTA.

BAND-CUTTER AND FEEDER FOR THRESHING-MACHINES.

T 0 all. whom it may concern 7 Be it known that I, ANDREW J 4 PETER-SON, a citizen of the United States, residing at lsanti, in the countyof Isanti and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Band-Cutters and Feeders for Threshing-h lachines, ofwhich the following is a specificatio-n;

'Myinvention' relates to band cutters and feeders for threshing machinesand has for its object to receive bundles at a point re moved from theseparator and convey said bundles to a point above thethreshingcylinder, cutting the bands while the bundles are being movedand spreading and distributing the grain so as to deliver thesamein aconstant stream to the threshing cylinder. It is an object of myinvention to provide a feeder which includes a carrier and feeder chutewhich shall be mounted for oscillation in a horizontal plane directlyabove the threshing cylinder, said chute having a circular mouth openingabove the feeding rollers at a point such that said rollers can receiveand deliver to the threshing cylinder the out and distributed bundles ofgrain brought up by the carrier.

It is a further object of my invention to provide in the carrier trougha; constantly driven set of cutter knives in combination with a seriesof rider chains also constantly driven, said rider chains being adapted"to float upon the bundles fed upward along the carrier. With this ridermechanism is combined means for disconnecting the endless belt operatingin the carrier trough whenever the amount of grain fed becomes greaterthan a certain desiredamount.

It is an essential ob]eet of my invention to provlde rider mechanism ofthe type above described which shall operate to as sist in forwardingthe grain when the main conveyer belt is being driven and which itselftion by a hinge joint at the axial center of the mechanism for drivingthe conveyer belt and band cutter and rlder chains and toprospeeification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 20, 1915.

Application filed July 22, 1912. Serial No. 710,858.

vide special means for raising and lowering the carrier which can atwill be operatively disconnected therefrom.

It is a further object of my invention to provide in connection with theend of the carrier a guard or shield to rest upon the top.

of a straw stack thereby supporting the end of the carrier which maythen drop as the height of the straw stack is lowered from the feedingof the bundles to the separator. The full objects and advantages of myin ention will appear in connection with the detailed description"thereof and are particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, illustrating the application of my invention in oneform,-Figure 1 is a side elevation of a separator showing my inventionapplied thereto. Fig. 2 is a plan'view of the feeder mechanism. Fig. 3is an enlarged side elevation of the feeder mechanism. Fig. 4 is atransverse section of the feeder mechanism, as applied to a separator.Fig. 5 is a front elevation of a feeder mechanism with the carriersturned down and broken away at the ends and the front of the feedercasing removed. Figs. 6 and 7 are side and plan views, respectively, thelatter partly in section of the driving mechanism and control thereforof the conveyer belt and band cutter and rider chains. Fig. 8 is adetail view of a clutch band operating lever. Fig. 9 is a transversesection of the end of the carrier.

Secured to the forward portion of the frame 10 of a separator ofordinary construction, such as shown in Fig. 1, is a feeder casing 11open at top and bottom and having journaled therein a pair of rollers12, 13, each of said rollers being provided with a series of largelug-like teeth 1 1, the shape of which is clearly indicated in Figs. 4and 5. Secured upon the top of casing 11 are a pair of flanged rings 15and 16 each formed with a groove 17 circular in cross section extendingabout the up per edge of the inner periphery thereof. Supported by therings 15 and 16 are frame rings 18 and 19, said frame rings beingprovided with central outwardly extended peripheral flanges 20 whichflanges rest diperiphery thereof.

fixed horizontal position and yet free to.

oscillate with the parts carried thereby upon the flanges 20.

The ring 18 is provided with a lower inwardly turned flange 27 aroundthe bottom Seated within this flange and extending upwardly from out thering is a casing 28 which is curved at the top of the backside thereof,as indicated at I 29, and which has secured along the interior of saidbackside a reinforcing strip 30. The casing 28 terminates in a curvedupper portion 31, as best shown in Fig. 5. The flanged base 32 of acasting later to be described is bolted to the curved top portion 29,said base extending to the upper curved lip 31 thereof as best shown inFigs. 3 and 4. This casting has upstanding from the base 32 a standard33 formed with an interior bearing 34 in which is seated a hub sleeve 35of a bevel gear 36. The said bevel gear is formed with a central bore 37as best shown in Fig. 4, through which extends a shaft 38 having ifdesired a ball bearing 39 in the standard 33. Integrally secured to ethe shaft or spindle 38 is a bearing block r in the scope of myinvention.

39 and journaled in the two bearing blocks 39 of the two sets ofcarriers provided in the preferred form of my invention shown is'a shaft40 having thereon a pulley 41 and a pair of bevel gears 42 and 43meshing with the respective bevel gears 36 on the aforesaid two carrierunits.

It is obvious that if desired but a single carrier unit may be employedand fall with- The form shown in which a pair of carrier units isemployed will, however, in practice give the most satisfactory results.p

A bracket arm 44. is integrally formed upon each casting base 32carrying a sleeve bearing 45 in which is journaled a short shaft 46having on one end thereof a bevel pinion 47 meshing with bevel gear 36and on the other end a sprocket wheel 48.

Asbest shown in Fig. 4, the lower portion of casing 28 is provided withreinforcing ribs 49 having upstanding bracket bearing blocks 50 and 51to which are hinged by -means of hubs 52 and 53 respectively, the

. main carrier sections 54, said hubs 52 and 53 coming outside ofbearing blocks 50 and 51 and being hingedly secured thereto by spindlespassing through the centers of hub 53 and bearing block 51 and hub 52and bearing block 50, the spindle passing through hub 52 and bearingblock 50 being in fact a shaft 55. The shaft 55 extends for somedistance outside of bearing block 52 and is supported at theendby meansof a link 56 having a bearing on the end of shaft 46 and another bearingon the end of the aforesaid shaft 55. Inside of said bearing of link 56is a sprocket wheel 57 on shaft 55 which is connected with sprocketwheel '48 on shaft 46 by means of a sprocket chain 58, a guide sheave 59for said sprocket chain being secured to link 56 at near the centralpart thereof. Upon the inside of each of shafts 55 at a point inside ofbearing block 50 and near the center of carrier'trough 54 is a sprocketwheel 60 over which runs a'sprocket chain 61, said sprocket chainextending about a similar sprocket wheel 62 journaled at the outer endof the carrier trough 54. As best shown in Figs. 3, 4 and 9, thesprocket chain 61' is provided with a series of swiveled prongs 63havingfeet 64 which engage the bottom wall 65 of the carrier trough 54 therebyholding the prongs 63 in raised position as the carrier chain travels upthe carrier trough. As best shown in Fig. 2, the said bottom wall 65 ofcarrier trough 54 extends above and slightly beyond the hubs 52 and 53thereon and is formed with a slot 66 through which sprocket wheel 60extends, said slot running beyond said sprocket wheel beneath the end ofbearing block 51. When the feet 64 come into the slot 66 the prongs arepermitted to swing backward into the plane of the chain and release thehold upon the bundles carried thereby.

As best shown inFigs. 2 and 3, the casting base 32 is thrown up inanear-like bracket 67 through which extends a bolt 68 and on this boltis strung a-two-armed member 69 which extends backwardly so as to restupon the bearing block 39, said'member 69 having formed on the topthereof a lug 70 upon which may be secured an eye-plate 71 from whichextends a series of guy wires 72 to fixed parts of the machine. To thebolt 68 is pivoted at each end thereof and inside of the arms of member69a pair of arms or rods 73 and 74 which arms are bent out-.

wardly, as indicated at 7 5 and 76, and are extended parallel to thesides of the carrier 54. The rods 73 and 74 pass through enlargedapertures 78 in arms 79 pivoted at 80 to the ends of brace members 81bolted to the side walls of casing 28, the members 79 being restrainedfrom movementbeyond a certainpoint by heads 77 on the arms 73 and 74.The rods 73 and 74, therefore, pivoted to bolt 68 in combination withthe side rods 79 pivoted to bars 81 at a point on casing 28 somedistance below the bolt 68, form a truss suspension device which iscapable of oscillation upwardly above the limits set by the heads 77 andwhich is restrained by said heads in a fixed lowered position. Thepurpose of this feature of my device relates to one ofthe primaryobjects of my invention and will now be described. Upon the upperends ofrod 79 are journaled pulleys 82 from which extend cables 83. One end ofeach cable is secured to an eye-piece 84 on rods 73 and 7 1. The otherend of one of said cables is "secured to a drum 85 fast on ashaft 86extending beneath the carrier trough 54 and j ournaled thereto, theother end of the other cable extending from pulley 82 to a drum .87splined and slidable on shaft'86. A Worm wheel 88' is loose on shaft 86and has a clutch face adapted to coiiperate with a clutch face on drum87 which is moved into and outofclutching Fig. 3), which wormis on ashaft 91 jour naled in bearings below carrier chute 5 1. For conveniencein handling, the carrier chute is hinged at 92 and at this point theshaft 91 is Provided with a slotted head 93 forming a union with asimilar slotted head 9% of an extension rod 95 journaled to the lowersection 96 of the carrier. Upon the free end of rod 91 is a hand wheel,97, which will be near the upper portion of the carrier and accessiblefrom the top of the machine. A similar hand wheel 98 is provided on theend of the extension shaft 95, which is near the outer-end carriersection 96. WVhen the drum 87 is clutched to worm wheel 88, by turningeither shaft 91 through hand wheel 97 or shaft 95 through hand wheel 98drums 87 and 85 will be rotated winding up or unwinding cords 82 andelevating or lowering the carrier section 54, and, of course, with itthe carrier section 96 hinged thereto, and which will be secured inpractical alinement with section 54: by hooks 99, as indicated in Fig.3; r

' In certain instances it may be desirable to rest the outer end ofcarrier section 96 upon the stack and let it go down by gravity as thebundles of a stack are fed to the threshing machine. To. permit this theouter carrier section 96 has formed on the lower side thereof a specialcasing or shoe 100 which extends beyond and forms a guard for theconveyer chain 61 and the prongs 63. When so used the drum 87 will beunclutched from worm wheel 88 and the guard casing 100 will rest uponthe surface of the straw stack. As the bundles are deposited in carriers96 and fed into the hoods 28 the carrier trough will, by gravity, becaused to follow the diminishing height of the stack until the bottom ofthe stack is reached. In this way the operator will not at any time needto lift the bundles but merely toss or shove them into the end of thecarrier section 96 at all times practically at the level of the bundlesbeing handled. It will, of course, be understood that the abovestructures are duplicated for each of the carrier troughs 54 which maybe employed. It will be noted, as best shown in Figs. 1 and 5, that thecarrier trough 54: is arched over for a portion of its upper surface, asindicated at 101, the upper edge 102 of such arched portion extendingadjacent to the front edge 31 of the hood casing 28 when the carriertrough is in its most lowered position with the free end upon theground, as indicated in Fig. 1. The said upper edge 102 of the carriersection 54: telescopes within the hood casing 28 as said carrier troughis oscillated upon the hinge members 52 and 53. The discharge from thecarrier troughs 54: therefore will always be entirely within the hoodcasings 28 so that the bundles of grain will be delivered therein andpass through the circular apertures 103 at the bottom of rings 18.

In addition to driving the sprocket wheel 60 and carrier chain 61 fromthe shaft 55 at the point of pivotal attachment of carrier troughs 5 1to hood casing 28, I drive from the same shaft the means for cutting thebands and also my specially contrived device for regulating the rate offeed and delivery of grain from the carrier troughinto the hood casing.Bolted to the side walls of each of the carrier sections 54, as bestshown in Fig. 5, are bearing members 104C and 105 in which is journaleda shaft 106 carrying a series of cutter blades 107 and an intermediateseries of sprocket wheels 108, all within the carrier trough and betweenthe side walls thereof. Secured to bearing member 105 is a gear casing109 of common construction in which is housed a bevel gear 110 on theend of shaft 106, said bevel gear meshing with a bevel gear 111 on theend of a shaft 112 having a bearing in the gear casing 109 adjacent oneend thereof and another bearing in a gear casing 113 secured, asindicated at 114, to the side wall of carrier trough 54. The shaft 112has on the end thereof a bevel gear 115 within housing 113 meshing witha bevel gear 116 on a sleeve 117 loose on shaft 55 and upon which issecured the sprocket wheel 57 before mentioned, which with sleeve 117 isloose on shaft 55, all as best shown in Figs. 6 and 7. Fast on shaft 55is a clutch Wheel 118 provided with a V-shaped rim as indicated at 119.Secured to the hub of bevel gear 116 is a disk 120 having securedthereto at the middle point thereof by means of a bolt 121 a clutch ring122 having an interior V-shaped bearing surface similar to the surface119 on a been cut thereby, I have provided the follivotally secured to 5will be rotated to drive the feeder chain 61.

. It is thus seen that the shaft 106 and cutter knives 107 thereon areconstantly driven. while the sprocket wheel 60 and feeder chain, 61vwillbe or may be intermittentlydriven'as the feeding requirements of i the.machine may necessitate. To .control this intermittent operation of thefeeder chain 61 'and also as a means of materially aiding in the feed ofgrain after the bundles 5 have'passed the cutter knives and the bandslowing novel device. the bearing member 105 at 123 by means of one arm124 and pivotally secured to bearing. member 104 at 125 by means of asecond arm 126 is a yoke member 127 having journaled. thereinbetweensaid arms 124 and 126 a shaft 128 having thereon a series ofsprocket wheels 129 which are connected by sprocket chains 130 with thesprockets 108 on shaft 106. The gearing to the shaft 106 relative to thedrive of feeder chain 61 is such that the sprocket chains 130 travelmore rapidly than said feeder chain but in the 0 portion adjacent saidfeeder chain travel in the same direction. The links of the sprocketchains 130 are provided with projections which engage the sheetof strawat the top of the bundles after the same have been fed beneath thecutters 107 and strip off the top layers of said straw. to feed the sameinto the hood casings 28. The yoke member 127 or rather the chains 130mounted thereon float upon the bundles of grain which 0 may be fedbeneath it, being limited in its downward movement by engagementwithlugs 131 on the inside walls of carrier section 54, as indicated indotted lines in Fig. 3. Y

5 The pivot pin 123 of the arm 124 of yokc' member 127 extendsto' theoutside of the wall of carrier trough 54 and has, secured thereon an arm132 which arm is connected by link 133 with a short arm 134 of a trip 0member 135 having housed therein a trigger136 which is spring-pressedagainst the head 137 of a trip finger 138 curved up- 'wardly, asindicated at 139. The'head 137 of trip finger 138 is provided withmarginal stops or wings 140 and 141. As shown in Fig. 7 the trigger 136is indicated as positioned at the center of head 137, but in pra.c-'

tice it will ordinarily occupy a position in engagement either withstop140 or stop 141 in which case the spring pressure exerted upon trigger136 willswing the trip finger 138 into one orthe other of its sidepositions, as indicated in'dotted lines in Fig. 7. The movements of thetrip member 135 are, 5 of course, efiected by the rocking movementtending outside of connecting point .142 and a parallel arm 144between/the .ends of whichis mounted a roller 145, the arm144 beingprovidedwith an upstanding lug 146.

The other end of the clutch bandis formed with a cam arm 147 the curvedface 148 of which engages the roller 145 between the arms 143 and 144.When the roller145 is pushed down along the camsurface 148 intoengagementwith clutch band 122 the said bandwill be drawn together so asto cause the same to grip the clutch wheel 118. When, however, theroller 145 is caused to move up to near the top'of canrsuiface 148 theclutch band;122 will be released. In one position of the finger. 139said finger will be engaged by the projection 146 which thereby will becaused to force roller 145 into its lower or clutching position. Thiswill always take place when the chains 130 are in normal feedingposition. When, how-. ever, the yoke member 127 and chains 130 areraised byeXcessive feed of grain beneath such chains the finger 139 willbe'positioned so that the arm 143 will engage the same, which will swingsaid arm on the pivot 142 causing roller 145 to ride up the cam surface148of "arm 147 and release the clutch ring 122. At such times thesprocket wheel and feeding chain 61 will not be driven until the chains130 have removed from the top of the bundles of straw beneath the samesufiicient grain to permit the yoke member 128 to descend sufficientlyto swing trip member 135 and trigger 136 into the opposite positioninwhich finger 139 will come into the path of projection 146 and forcethe.

roller 145, down the-camface 148, vagain effecting" clutching action ofthe clutch ring into 122. A lug 149 on the lower side of arm 143 limitsthe extent of movement of said arm for clutching action. 7

It will be noted that, as indicated in Fig. 3, the roller 12 is mountedupon sliding bearings 1.50 which are pressed by springs 151 normallyholding roller 12 in its closed position relative to roller 13 butpermitting said rollers to separate relatively to accommodate anyexcessive flow of grain between the same. The character of the lug teeth14 on the rollers 12 and 13 is-such as to hold.

back and retard the grain after the same has been gripped by the teethofthe threshing cylinder 151 thus preventing jamming between the cylinderand concave and consequent jumping of the separator mechanism.

To hold thehoods 28 and carrier troughs 541 in fixed relative position acatch 152 may be provided normally held out of engage ment with ring 22by means of a spring 153, capable of being drawndown into notches 15%formed on said ring by means of a cord 155 extending from a lug .156 onsaid catch 152.

The drive of the feed rollers 12 and 13 is efiected from a pulley 157 ona shaft 157 which, through a worm gear, drives a shaft 158 having spiralgears 159 thereon in mesh with spiral gears 160 on the shafts of feedrollers 12 and 13, as shown in Figs. 3 and 5. By these means the feedrollers 12 and 13 are driven in opposite directions or so that the upperperipheries thereof move inwardly toward one another at the desiredspeed. The drive of the mechanism on the carrier, as shown in Fig. 1, isfrom a pulley 161 on the shaft 162 of the threshing cylinder. A belt 163which passes over the pulley 157, acting as a tightener and also driventhereby, runs to a pulley 165 on a shaft 166 journaled transversely ofthe machine in bearings formed on bracket members 167 provided for thatpurpose. The pulley 165 will be a governor pulley of anywell knownconstruction which will not effect driving action upon shaft 166 untilthe proper speed of the threshing cylinder has been attained. As shownin Fig. 3, shaft 166 has thereon a pulley 168 which is connected by abelt 169 with a pulley 11 on shaft 40.

The operation of my device has been quite fully given in connection withthe detailed description thereof.

The carrier trough will be positioned as may be required in relation tothe stack to be threshed. If it is desired, to let the trough descend bygravity the shoe 100 will be placed in contact with the grain of thestack and the drum 87 will be unclutched from the shaft 86.

After the machine has been properly speeded up the bundles will be laidwithin the lower portion of carrier trough 5st, and said bundles will becarried by means of the prongs 63 on chain 61 up the carrier trough andbeneath to cutter knives 107 where the bands will be out. By reason ofthe fact that the chains 130 on the yoke member or float 127 are movingmore rapidly than the feeder chain 61, as the bundle is fed beneath thefloat the top thereof will be stripped off more rapidly than the bottomand delivered within the mouth of the hood 28 thus spreading and makinguniform the feed of the grain which will thereafter pass through thecircular aperture at the bottom of hood 28 to the feed rollers 12 and 13from which the grain is finally delivered to the threshing cylinder 151.It is to be noted that, in view of the fact that the aperture at thebottom of ring 22 is perfectly round and centers above the intermediatepoint between the feed rollers 12 and 13, it is absolutely immaterial asregards the feed of grain in what position the hood 28 and carriertrough 54 may be. Itis practicable for said hood and carrier, where butone is used, as is contemplated by me, that said carrier may occupy anyposition from the extreme rear at one side entirely around the front ofthe machine to the extreme rear at the other side, making a sweep of butlittle less than the entire circumference of 360, in any position ofwhich the ultimate feed of grain to the threshing cylinder will alwaysbe identically the same. Of course, if two hoods and carriers areemployed the sweep of each of such carriers will be principally limitedto one side although it would still be possible forboth carriers topoint ahead to a stack on either side of the machine.

When the cut bundles of grain are fed beneath the chains 130 of thefloat 127 said bundles will tend to lift said float and there by to rockthe arm 132 and the trip member 135; and when the amount of grain hasbecome suflicient to lift the float above a certain point, that is, whenthe feed of rain has become too great, the trip member 135 9 will beswung so as to cause the trigger 136 to move the finger 138 into thepath of arm 143, thereby to release the clutch and disconnect thefeeding operation of chain 61. Almost immediately the chains 130 willhave stripped off enough straw from the top of the bundles to permit thefloat to drop sufficiently to cause finger 138 to be swung back so as toengage member 146 and re-clutch the sprocket 60 to its driving member tocause resumption of feeding action of chain 61.

I claim:

1. In combination with the threshing cylinder of a grain separator arotatable hood having a contracted aperture directly above the threshingcylinder, a pair of feed and ,retarding rollers between the saidaperture and the threshing cylinder for receiving the grain from thehood and delivering it to the threshing cylinder and located so that thedelivery space between the feed rollers falls in a vertical planeextending between the axis of the threshing cylinder and the throat ofthe threshing concave, and means to deliver bundles of grain into saidhood.

In combination with the threshing cylinder and concave of a grainseparator, a pair of feed and retarding rollers located above saidthreshing cylinder with their axes in a horizontal plane and theircooperating adjacent peripheries positioned to deliver grain in avertical plane between the axis ofthe threshing cylinder and theconcave, a pair of rotatable hoods each having a contracted deliveryaperture, the centers In testimony whereof I afliX my signature of saidapertures being substantially in the in the presence .oftwo Witnesses.plane of delivery of the said rollers and the I combined Width of saidapertures extending v ANDREW J. PETERSON. along the full length of thedelivery portions of the rollers, and independent means Witnesses:

for delivering bundles of grain into each of F. A. WHITELEY,

said hoods. H. A. BOWMAN.

Copies 01 this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, 11.0.

